Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii and some additional material.
Martianus Capella and his allegorical encyclopaedia
Martianus Capella is an author from Carthago, North Arfica, in the 5th century, a province of the Roman empire until the Vandals took over in 439 AD. Only one of his works survived: a work titled De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, “About the marriage of Philology and Mercury”. In this work, the story is told about the god Mercury marrying the earthly maiden Philology, a personification of earthly knowledge and science. In this allegory, Mercury stands for the body of knowledge connected to language, or the trivium, Philology for the body of knowledge connected to number, or the quadrivium. Together, the couple personifies perfect knowledge. In the story, the couple receives a curious gift from the gods to celebrate their marriage: seven maidens come to present their knowledge at the banquet. The maidens are personifications of the seven Liberal Arts, the arts of the trivium and of the quadrivium. Grammar, Rhetoric and Dialectic are the three arts of language, Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy and Music are the four arts of number. For this exhibition, the author Martianus is crucial because he is one of the most important medieval sources for the establishment of the curriculum of the Seven Liberal Arts. Furthermore, especially his treatment of the art of Dialectic was elaborately commented upon.


